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Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs
News article15 November 2022Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs

Setting out the path to make the EU's social economy and local businesses more resilient, green and digital

Today, the Commission published the transition pathway, co-created with relevant parties in the social economy sector, to help social economy entities and small local businesses become greener and more digital.

Proximity and social economy transition pathway banner

The report puts forward a set of 30 actions in 14 different areas. For instance, the transition pathway proposes actions to help social economy entities improve their energy efficiency in order to reduce their electricity consumption. It also encourages public authorities to support the creation of local green partnerships, for example to enhance local value chains in circular waste management, clean energy production or support local sustainable food markets. To improve digitalisation, the report lists actions such as supporting the development of a code of conduct for social economy entities and local businesses to better manage their data in a transparent manner.

The Commission is launching an open call for pledges, inviting all relevant parties to present their concrete commitments and to express interest in working together on the implementation of the EU's social economy and local businesses transition pathway.

After the pathway on tourism which was launched in February 2022, this transition pathway is the second one delivered under the Industrial Strategy Update, where the Commission called for industrial ecosystems to accelerate the green and digital transformation and increase the resilience of the European economy. See the proximity and social economy transition pathway page for more information.

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